


Missed Call

by andthentheresthiscastle



Category: Castle
Genre: Angst, Episode: s05e22 Still, F/M, Fluff, Still AU, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-13
Updated: 2016-02-13
Packaged: 2018-05-19 23:54:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,604
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5985358
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/andthentheresthiscastle/pseuds/andthentheresthiscastle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Still AU. A fill for a Tumblr prompt. The exact prompt can be read at the fic's end notes, to avoid spoiling major plot points.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Missed Call

He was in DC for a book promotion tour when they called him. Beckett was standing on a bomb, Ryan said. Castle took a second to curse the universe, become damnit, she didn't deserve this.

 

All the flights were booked for the next 12 hours, so he rented a car and started driving to New York. A few minutes in, his phone rang. It was Beckett.

 

"Kate, are you alright?" he answered, putting the call on speaker.

 

"Yeah, Castle" she said but he could hear the fear in her voice.

 

"Still standing on a bomb?" he tried to joke. That was what he did in situations like these.

 

"You know me, always getting into trouble" she laughed, although it sounded more like a half sob.

 

"I'm so sorry I'm not there" he said, voice breaking.

 

"Hey, no, Castle. Do you think I want you risking your life being in here with me? There would be nothing you could do, babe" Kate tried to assure him. Not that he found anything reassuring about how powerless to help he would be in either case.

 

"I could have been your bomb buddy" Castle said, trying to lift her spirits.

 

"Oh you mean you would annoy me to no end, and make me miss your first days at the precinct?" she laughed.

 

"Ha! So you admit you liked me back then!"

 

"That's definitely not what I said."

 

**

 

They bantered back and forth while Castle drove back to New York. He was trying to keep her mind off her current predicament and she was trying to keep him from breaking every speed limit on the road. But he was close to the city now, so he wouldn't risk getting pulled over when he could be there soon.

 

Until he heard the captain of the bomb squad say that there were ten minutes left.

 

"Kate? What was he talking about?" he asked, dreading the answer.

 

"I... there is a timer on the bomb" she confessed. "I didn't tell you because I knew you would kill yourself trying to get here in time."

 

He knew she was right. He also knew he would never get there in time now, no matter how fast he went. He just prayed the boys could come up with the records they needed in time. They had to.

 

"I'm sorry" Kate apologized, misinterpreting his silence for anger.

 

"It's okay" he said. But nothing was okay.

 

"I just wish we had more time."

 

"No, don't give up on me now, Kate. Ryan and Espo will find those records in time" he tried to remain positive.

 

"Even if they don't, Castle, I want you to know-"

 

"Kate don't-"

 

"I love you, Castle" he could hear the emotion behind it, the desperation that matched his.

 

"I love you too."

 

God, he loved her so much, and he was about to lose her and he couldn't even see her face for one last time.

 

"Please, tell my dad..."

 

"Tell him yourself, Kate. You will get out of this" he said stubbornly, trying to push back the tears and focus on the road.

 

"Espo is calling. I'll call you right back" she hung up.

 

He spent his wait for her call praying to whatever god or deity that the boys had found the answer that would release Kate from the pressure plate in time. The call came after a couple of minutes, which seemed like an hour.

 

"The kid's name was William" Kate said.

 

"Too long, we need five letters. Billy?" he suggested.

 

"It's possible. Hopefully it's not Willy like Ryan suggested."

 

"Come on, no one calls their child Willy" Castle hoped he was right.

 

"Yeah" she sounded unsure.

 

"How much time left?"

 

"A few seconds."

 

"Do it, Kate. Whatever you think is right."

 

He heard her typing the code. He heard her take a breath and then, nothing. The call had ended.

 

He called back, only to get her voicemail.

 

"No, no, no..."

 

It had to have been Billy. It had to. Why wasn't she answering?

 

He pulled over at the nearest rest stop and tried again.

 

"Please, Kate, please" he was in tears now. This couldn't be how their story ended. How she ended.

 

Every time he dialed her phone, he only got her voicemail.

 

"No!" he yelled and threw the phone away, hearing the sound of it hitting the road. He didn't care. He didn't care about anything. He let his body fall next to the car and wept.

 

The love of his life was lost. He would never hear her laugh again. He would never see her beautiful smile, or her eye roll when he told her his incredible theories, making them too far-fetched on purpose to elicit just that reaction. He would never make love to her again.

 

He would never be whole again.

 

**

 

The police car parked a few feet from his car. Castle didn't know how much time had passed and he didn't really care. He didn't want to feel anything, he just wanted this pain, this agony, to stop. He didn't want to talk to anyone.

 

The driver's door opened, and out came Esposito.

 

"Goddammit, Castle, we were worried about you!" he yelled.

 

Castle didn't reply. Kate was dead. He couldn't think anything beyond that.

 

Esposito opened the passenger's door and helped the person sitting there out of the car.

 

"Castle" the writer heard her voice, a bit nervous, a bit tired, and a lot worried. But it was her voice.

 

"Kate?" he raised his head and saw her, _his_ Kate, being helped by Esposito.

 

As soon as he realized that she wasn't a figment of his imagination he got up to meet her. He practically crashed into her, ignoring the grunt that came from Esposito, and hugged her tight.

 

"How..." he managed to utter.

 

"I dropped the phone, I'm so sorry, Castle" he heard her muffled voice, as she was practically squeezed into his arms.

 

"What?" he half laughed.

 

"Yeah, and it stopped working. And then I realized you probably thought I didn't make it-"

 

"And you didn't answer you damn phone" Esposito chimed in, still sounding annoyed.

 

"Aw you thought something happened to me, 'Sito?" Castle joked although the two detectives could tell that he was trying not to lose it.

 

Kate slapped his chest. "Don't joke! I thought you might have lost control of the car or something!"

 

"How'd you find me anyway? I threw the phone when I couldn't reach you."

 

"It still works well enough to send a GPS signal, apparently" Kate said.

 

"I am so glad you're okay, Kate" Castle said, kissing her forehead.

 

"I'm gonna go find that phone" Esposito awkwardly muttered, and left them.

 

"How are you?" Castle asked, realizing he was the one holding most of her weight.

 

"My legs gave up on me after all these hours of standing, but otherwise, I'm fine."

 

"Here, let me open the passenger side so you can sit" he said as he moved her to his car.

 

"Better?" he asked afterwards.

 

"A bit."

 

"I'm giving you a massage as soon as we get home" he promised. He still looked at her as though he wasn't meant to see her again.

 

"I'm okay, Castle, I'm here" she assured him.

 

"I'm sorry, I just didn't think I'd see you again" Castle choked up. He kneeled down and let her hug him, his face in her lap, as he breathed steadying breaths while she kissed his tussled hair.

 

"I love you" Castle breathed into her shirt.

 

"I love you too" Kate answered, emotionally. "So much."

 

He left her embrace and looked at her. She was tired, exhausted in fact, but she had never looked more beautiful. This was it. She was the one and he knew it. Why was he delaying it?

 

"Katherine Beckett, will you marry me?" he asked. It wasn't the ideal moment, it wasn't the ideal setting, but he didn't want to waste a minute more.

 

"What?" Kate uttered.

 

"I know this is probably the worst time to propose, but I love you, and I don't want to wait until the right time and the right place comes. I've loved you for a long time, and I know I don't want to spend my life without you. So I would love to marry you if that's what you want too."

 

"Yes" she answered. "Yes, I'd love to marry you too, Rick."

 

They kissed passionately, giving each other a hint of what was to follow after they'd overcome their physical and emotional exhaustion.

 

"Ew, gross!" they heard Esposito saying.

 

"Shut up, Espo, he asked me to marry him" Kate retorted.

 

"What?! Here? What's wrong with you man? When you said a proposal should be big, I never thought you meant the interstate. And there should be a ring at least."

 

"I've got a ring at home" Castle said.

 

"You do?" Kate was surprised.

 

"What, you thought I just decided I want to marry you now? Kate, this isn't a spur of the moment thing" he said seriously.

 

"I believe you, Rick. I know you wouldn't propose to me otherwise" she kissed him.

 

"Let's go home" he said. "Relieve Esposito from the horror of seeing two people being intimate with each other."

 

"Mmm, we could torture him a bit more" Kate laughed.

 

"There's always tomorrow."

 

There would be a tomorrow for them, which was the most important thing. She wasn't dead, and they could still have a future together. A future where she would call him her husband and he would call her his wife.

 

He would be grateful for every minute of it.

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Still AU. Castle wasn't in NY when Beckett stepped on the bomb. Instead he was with her on the phone, helping her figure out the code. After putting the correct code, Beckett is so overwhelmed she didn't die that she drops the phone and terminates the call. Castle thinks the call ended because the bomb went off.


End file.
